Gregory A. "Greg" Boyd is a theologian, pastor, and author. He is Senior Pastor of the Woodland Hills Church in Maplewood, MN and adjunct Professor of Theology at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN). Boyd has authored or co-authored 18 books, including The Jesus Legend, Letters from a SkepticandGod at War. Boyd is President of Reknew.org and noted for his writings on the relationship between Christianity and politics, including his best-selling book The Myth of a Christian Nation, which led to the New York Times publishing a front-page article on Boyd. In 2010, Boyd was listed as one of the twenty most influential Christian scholars alive today.1

Theme: Is God to Blame?: Moving Beyond Simple Answers to the Problem of Evil

God gets blamed for a lot of the evil in the world. To paraphrase Dr. Ralph Winter, in regard to disease, suffering, violence in nature, etc., we have become so used to these things that we have drifted into supposing that this is the way God created things. And, a God who created violence, cruelty and suffering, is not so appealing to the people we’re trying to win to Christ, his son. This dilemma explains the rationale for this year’s lectureship. Our aim: confirming and restoring the truth and fullness of God’s reputation.

The perspective we will explore in regard to this aim is the warfare worldview. In Greg Boyd’s words, “the warfare worldview is the conviction that the good and evil, fortunate or unfortunate, aspects of life are to be interpreted largely as a result of good and evil, friendly or hostile spirits warring against each other and against us.”2

Attendees will walk away having grappled with how the warfare worldview affects their lives, their picture of God, their prayers and their ministry.

Where

Organizer

Roberta Winter Institute

Within Christianity, current thinking blames God for much of the disease and evil in our world. Who will rectify this?

Within Christianity, current efforts do very little to address the roots of disease. Who will inspire new action?

The vision of the Roberta Winter Institute is to help rectify problem number one and inspire faith-based initiatives to address problem number two. Toward this vision, we publish resources, sponsor gatherings and pursue relationships that will help a large, general audience connect with our mission and make it their own.